Huw Costin

HUW COSTIN: REGRETS
(AUTO) BIOGRAPHY 2008

"I am a singer, who writes songs to sing to, and records them so they can be listened to. I do this for love."

In the late 1980's, when I left the South Glamorgan Youth Brass Band to form ‘Lamia’ - the Death Metal band, I probably thought I was being rebellious. My father is a singer with the Treorchy Male Voice Choir, and my mother still teaches violin, viola and piano to children.

Family changes led me from Wales to England. I formed the biggest band in a small town… ‘Earth The Californian Love Dream’.

I liked Alan Freeman. When he spun Black Sabbath back to back with Tangerine Dream he introduced me to the possibilities of both rock and electronic music. When Tommy Vance broadcast Hawkwind live from Brixton Academy a utopian spirit seemed to be calling from another world through my radio. When LSD, RDF, The Orb and Loop were filling the fields, I decided that I wanted to travel around the free festivals. Unable to comprehend quitting my band, I stayed put, and dreamt that one day I would leave in a golden bus, like Willie Nelson, and never look back. Music had started to mean more than just music.

Earth The Californian Love Dream evolved with an automatic sound, succinct structures, and nifty titles. Their rock & roll transcended everything else in my life. The high was riding a wave of sound that had everybody in the room caught in its currents. This energy became my lifeblood. But it crashed into the verge of success and broke my heart.

I sought solace at my father’s, walking the forestry trails of the Rhondda Valley trying to sacrifice negative emotions. I started to write. Some of the songs you may be listening to now. On Christmas day the snow came down and that night I wrote 'Full Moon at Christmas Time'. On Boxing day 'End It All' was written. A month or so later I had an album. I called it 'Regrets'. I spent a week burning 150 CD's and was surprised at how quickly these scratchy melancholic songs came to be loved. I got some good press in the NME. I nearly signed a deal. Then I tried to re-record the tracks in hi-fi, but it just didn't work…like Jackson Pollock trying to be Constable.

By the end of that year I'd performed solo at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Heavenly Social's, the Troubadour, but I tried to run away from the first gig. I'd been waiting to play in this cave. Freezing, and gradually becoming more drunk, I got angry with a guy showing off with Robbie Williams covers, and angry that I'd spent so much cash on so little booze. I drove away, but ten minutes later I drove back... of course... and played to three strangers. Beautifully. Note perfect. Fighting not to shake with nerves. I had played sold out shows with my band across the Midlands, in London and even in Austin, Texas. I’d recorded sessions for John Peel and The World Service. But that first solo gig was the hardest, and one of the best gigs I've done.

Lately my songs are dreams from my nights, snapshots from my days and emotions from a very recent, or distant past… love and missing love, natural beauty, scenes of waste, the potential that is missed. I am still waiting for my bus - trying to work out a philosophy…

For more information:
www.huwcostin.com
www.myspace.com/huwcostin

Contact:
info@huwcostin.com